Group Collaboration
Chelsea Harris: In the beginning, I had my doubts about working with group E. When I first met my group members I was excited because I like meeting new people and getting to know them, but it was evident early on that there were a couple of personality issues. Our entire first meeting consisted of what seemed like a weird power struggle, which was really frustrating. By the time we left our first group meeting I was annoyed and already dreading the project because I don’t like working in a non-harmonious environment. However, the second meeting went a lot smoother. I went in expecting to have to stand behind my ideas, but was pleasantly surprised when everyone seemed to have the same objectives concerning the project. By the end of the first five minutes the two of us were actually joking with each other. The second meeting set the precedent for the remainder of our meetings, which was awesome because we all talked and got along. The only “problem” I think we could have worked on was our focus. Sarah, Peach, and I are all very talkative when we’re in the mood, so we would start talking about something and then completely lose track of what we were supposed to be discussing. Someone, usually Summer, had to remind us that the sooner we got through the material we were supposed to get through, the sooner we could leave. Almost everyone came to every meeting, and everyone was mentally present when we needed to be. Overall, working with group E was a good experience. I learned that a bumpy start doesn’t have to reflect the entire collaborative process. As long as you’re able to recognize your own faults and work on them, and the other members do so as well, you should be fine. Summer Walls: I have to agree with Chelsea; in the beginning I thought there would be issues with conflicting personalities, but really everything turned out fine. I feel like there was some serious procrastination that should have been easily avoided, but what else can be expected of college kids, really? For the most part, things were done by the due date, which was the desired outcome, so it's all relatively good. Groups aren't my favorite method of working; I'm more of a lone wolf when it comes to these things, but the requirements were easy enough to make up for it, in a sense. Sarah Gredlics: I felt that as a group, we had great chemistry. There was a lot of great discussion and we mostly got along very well. Attempting to get us all together at once was a struggle and when we did meet, it was often difficult to say on task. Like I said, we had great chemistry. Summer often roped us back in to get to work. It was fun getting to know other people in the class and I enjoyed working with my group. I feel that we could have had better work ethic and got more accomplished at an earlier date than we did but overall, we worked well together and in the end, completed the project. Also, I think we should have met more often or at a different time, I think after class would have been better, personally. I enjoyed working with this group! Ben Peach: Initially I was worried about the collaboration part of this project. I know Chelsea pretty well and we always got along, but I wasn't sure how well all five of us would get along. I was pleasantly surprised to find we all got along great and had no personal issues interfere in the collaboration process. We chatted a little more than worked in our first meeting, but everyone was quite helpful to teach other. Our decision to use Prezi ended up working out perfectly. When Summer posted our presentation to the facebook group (which proved to be a very effective and convenient way to conduct the project) I was skeptical. Since my laptop has been out of commission, I've only been using school computers, which don't have flash, and therefore was only able to see the wiki part of our Prezi. To me it looked like our presentation was going to include a boring black-and-white string of essays, but thankfully there was much more to it once I got on someone's laptop. All in all however, I was quite satisfied with the individuals I worked with and our performance as a whole. When I lost all my work to a computer error, the group was very understanding and I appreciate that. Although there were definitely some unnecessary bad attitudes, we could have done a lot worse. The fact that we got five extra credit points from the trivia game didn't hurt either! Alex Lambert: I had a very good group. Everyone was motivated and didn’t let things like “deadlines” or “computer crashes” hold them back. I’m very proud of the work that everyone did, especially the girls, in setting up meeting dates and divvying out assignments and things of that nature, that definitely helped us to get moving quickly. Also everyone in the group was very thoughtful of everyone else in the group. When the “jobs” were being given out we were able to choose what we wanted to do as a group and no one was power hungry nor did anyone want to be. At first it was a little difficult just because we had no idea what we were going to do and it started off a little slow. Once we got past the phase and handing out jobs and brainstorming, the train started rolling. I’m very pleased with the way this turned out and with the effort that everyone put forth.